By My Side
by Alex0007
Summary: When Leah goes to Sam and Emily's daughter's birthday party, she doesn't expect to imprint. That's exactaly what happens. Leah/OC. Oneshot.


**A/N – Okay, I've been tossing ideas for this around for a while, and I finally picked one. This story takes place four years after Breaking Dawn.**

**Something I noticed about the wolves that imprinted after they were in love (like Jake and Sam) imprinted on someone in the family of the one they loved before, if that makes any sense. To elaborate, Sam imprinted on Emily, who is Leah's cousin. Jake imprinted on Renesmee, who is Bella's daughter. This made me think that maybe, just maybe, there was someone Leah could imprint on too. Read on to find out who! *winks***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Leah Clearwater or any of the other characters. Except for Nick and Mia. They are mine.**

**Chapter 1**

**Leah's POV**

I sighed as I phased back. I had been throwing ideas around for days and nothing seemed right. Sam and Emily's little girl was turning three, and I was trying to think of what to get her for her birthday. Emily and I were on good terms. After all, it wasn't her fault that Sam imprinted. I was only a little sour at Sam, but even now I couldn't really blame him. I could just pretend like I could. Whether I liked him or not, in a way, according to little Amelia (Mia), I was her Aunt Leah. I needed to get her something that her parents would never let her get otherwise. Something that would annoy the hell out of them. It was like a rule.

If Amelia had been a boy, a toy drum set would work just fine. A toy piano? No. I kept walking, trying to figure it out. Suddenly, an image from a few years ago of Quil at Claire's birthday party hit me. I could get her a makeup kit, complete with real makeup instead of that fake stuff they sometimes put in kid sets, and nail polish. It wasn't noisy, but it was still messy. I chuckled quietly to myself. Maybe in a month at Christmas I could get her _Sand Art_. That would be funny.

I made my way into the Cullen's house to prepare for today's trip to Seattle. After the newborn war, the packs stayed separate. The five of us in Jake's pack stayed pretty close with the Cullens, and Alice and I actually found a common interest in shopping. Surprisingly, Rosalie and I got closer, too, through Alice and shopping. We usually went out once a week to see what was new. I would get Amelia's present today.

A few hours and many shopping bags later, we settled back down in the living room. Jake, Quil, and Embry stumbled in the door soon after me. I looked at them.

"Where's Seth?" I asked. Jake shrugged and walked towards the kitchen to see if Esme had made anything. For a vampire, she was a really good cook.

"Oh, guys," Jake said, sticking his head back into the room. "Sam told me to warn you guys that his brother, well, half-brother, was coming down for Mia's birthday party. He's a wolf, too, but he's only been one for a little over a year. He's older than us, though. He's technically twenty five, almost twenty six." He was only a year older than Sam and me.

I knew Sam had a brother. I'd met him once or twice when we were dating and still human. He was at Amelia's birth, but I hadn't seen him in years. I knew that he lived in Colorado, so it was difficult for him to get up here a lot.

"Kay. We won't kill him. Probably," I joked. Quil laughed.

"Well, I'm heading out. I'll probably do a few laps around the woods before I head home," I announced. A few years ago, Esme had built the wolves a nice little one floored house out in the woods. It had four rooms, and I had immediately called the master suite. The guys varied between sleeping there and at their homes from before the packs split. I usually stayed at the house in the woods.

I exited the house and started my laps. About three quarters of the way around the first lap, an unfamiliar, deliciously amazing scent hit my nose. It smelled like chocolate, caramel, and the forest. I was a wolf's scent. I figured it was Sam's brother. I finished my laps and made my way to my house. The scent was there, too, so I figured that he had been curious about the other wolves in the area and came here when no one was home.

I made my way into the house and grabbed the bags that Alice had dropped off earlier. I took out both a makeup kit, and the Sand Art. I got her both. I was her aunt. It was my job to spoil her… plus I couldn't pick between the two. I took both presents to my desk and wrapped them before going to bed.

As I was leaving in the morning, I grabbed the presents and made my way towards the Cullen's house. The other guys, including Seth this time, were waiting by the car, getting ready to go the party. Jake pulled open the passenger side's door while Quil and Embry bowed.

"Your majesty," they announced. I rolled my eyes and smacked them. We all got into the car and drove over, joking with each other the whole time. We got out and went up to the door laughing at each other and trying to trip each other on the late November ice.

"Aunt Leah!" an excited voice called. I looked up just in time to see Amelia racing down the sidewalk with no coat to give me a hug. I laughed and picked her up.

"What? No hellos for us?" Seth asked, feigning hurt.

She laughed and went to hug everyone else, too. Emily walked out a moment later with a little coat. I waved to her.

"Hey, Emily," we all greeted.

"Hey, guys, Leah." She answered back. "Mia, put on a coat before you catch a cold," she told her young daughter.

She pouted. "But I don't want a coat," she whined.

I kneeled down. "Hey Mia, if you put a coat on, I'll give you a present," I reasoned.

Her eyes widened, and she ran over to Emily, struggling to get into the coat as fast as she could. We laughed.

After Emily finished helping her zip up, she came back over to me with hopeful eyes. I smiled and pulled out one of her presents. She grinned as she took it.

"Can I open it? Please, please, please, please, please?" she begged both me and Emily.

"If it's okay with your mother, you can," I told her. She looked at Emily hopefully.

Emily looked hesitant. "You won't have anything from Aunt Leah later. And, don't you want to wait for Daddy?" Sam had run to the store to grab a few last minute things.

"But Daddy is here!" she complained. Emily looked confused until a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

"Come on, Em. Let her open it," Sam said.

"Don't worry Emily. I have another one for later," I said, winking at Mia and avoiding Sam.

"Leah!" Emily exclaimed.

"Calm down. I'm her aunt. It's my job to spoil her," I countered. We all watched as she tore the paper open, revealing the makeup kit. Her face lit up.

"Now I can look just as pretty as you, Mommy! Thank you, Aunt Leah!" She ran over to me and gave me a huge hug. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Mia, why don't you go inside and play with Derek?" Emily suggested. Derek was Paul and Rachel's three year old son. He was born a few months before Mia was.

"Okay," she agreed. She skipped happily back into the house.

"Well," Sam began. He was looking at us, but I was looking at Emily. I still wouldn't look at him. "My brother, Nick, will be here any minute. You guys can go inside if you want too."

"Okay," Jake said. Over the years, it had gotten a little easier for them to be within close distances with each other. They could have a conversation now! _Note sarcasm_. As he was answering, a car could be heard pulling into an available space on the street. We started to make our way up the sidewalk to the house, Emily following us, when Seth tripped Embry. He slipped and fell on the ice, and Quil snorted. Quil was the next to go down when Embry grabbed his ankle. Seth tried to sneak by, but Quil grabbed his feet and he fell face first into a two foot deep snow bank. Emily and I were howling with laughter at this point. Idiots.

Because karma was out to get me, I ended up slipping in the ice when I tried to go around them. Instead of hitting the ice cold ground, a pair or warm arms wrapped around my waist. I looked up into the most brilliant blue eyes I had ever seen and I felt my whole world shift to focus on this one man in front of me. He was gazing at me in awe, and I took a moment to study his features.

This was obviously Sam's older brother. His eyes and nose were shaped like Sam's, but this stranger looked _much_ more handsome than Sam ever did. His straight, midnight black hair fell to fight under his chin, and his skin was just a shade darker than my own. He was muscular, but not obscenely so. The scent matched that of which I found last night. The shattered heart that Sam had left me with was gone. It was not like it had healed, but like it had never existed.

"Hi," he breathed. His voice was amazing, just like the rest of him.

"Hi," I breathed back. He helped me stand, but he never released his arms from around my waist. He turned me around so I was facing him, and I put my hands over his upper arms gently. He was _tall_. My forehead was level with his shoulders, and I was 5' 11''. His height may have rivaled Jake's. My eyes never left his. "Thank you."

"Anytime." He sounded completely honest. We just stood there for a moment, looking into each other's eyes. It was like we were the only two people on the planet. I heard something in the background, but I didn't care enough to find out what it was. It didn't stop. Someone stuck there hand right in front of my face. I turned quickly to realize that it was Jake. He, and everyone else, was smirking at us.

"Aunt Leah?" A voice called from the door. It was Mia. "Are you and everyone else coming? I've been waiting for, like, six whole hours!"

I doubted that had been that long, but I answered, "Yeah, I'll be right in."

"Leah," _he_ said aloud, softly. I looked back at him. I liked the way it sounded.

"And you're Nick, right?" I asked him quietly. He smiled slightly at me and nodded. Someone grabbed my arm and jerked me in the direction of the house. I turned. It was Seth this time. "Hey!" I looked back to Nick, and he looked sad, and a little determined. He walked over to me and grabbed my hand connected to the arm Seth did not have. I smiled at him and we walked into the house.

The moment I stepped through the door, Amelia attached herself to my leg. "Finally." Everyone in the pack knew that I was by far her favorite person. I spotted Derek watching her from the couch.

I kneeled down to her and whispered, "I think that Derek is getting lonely. Maybe you should go play with him." She nodded and ran off. I looked around.

Paul and Rachel were sitting together on the couch with Claire on Rachel's lap. Jared was moping around in a corner, so I guessed that Kim wasn't here yet. Seth was now attacking the food with Embry. Quil was on his way over to Claire, no surprise there. Sam, Emily, Paul, and Rachel were gossiping quietly with Jared, and the pups, a.k.a. the ones who phased during all of the Volturi crap, were talking amongst themselves.

I turned around to hang up my coat when I ran into Nick.

"Sorry!" I hurried to apologize.

He frowned. "Don't apologize. It was my fault; I was in your way. _I'm_ sorry."

"No," I countered, determined, "It was entirely my fault. I should have realized you were there."

He began to argue again. "No. I am clearly to bla-."

"Aw. Look! It's little Leah and Nicky's first fight! Someone get the camera!" Jake is so dead.

I could feel my cheeks begin to burn with the tell-tale signs of a blush. I was outraged. I don't blush!

I looked up to Nick. He was blushing slightly, but he also looked… happy at the comment. I smiled gently at him, and he smiled back. I could feel my awareness to the outside world slipping.

"Just wait!" Paul continued from what Jake had said. "Pretty soon there will be a few new litters of puppies running around too!"

Moment ruined. I pounced. He can die. Just before I could knock him off of the couch, a pair of constricting arms ensnared my waist. _His_ arms. Jolts of electricity seemed to run through my body at the slight touch, I felt myself relax, almost against my will. I felt a warm breath tickle my ear.

"Just ignore him, my sweet Leah. We know it's true anyway," he whispered.

Kill. Me. Now.

The room erupted in laughter. The blush on my cheeks was no longer hidden, but full blown. I stormed angrily out of the room. I briefly heard a voice asking, "Mommy? What's so funny?" I didn't stop moving.

The part that scared me the most wasn't what was said, but the fact that I didn't _mind_ it. Me! Leah Clearwater! I actually wished that it was true!

"Leah?" he called quietly to me. I froze, but didn't turn to face him. He wrapped his arms around me before continuing. He sounded almost frantic, like he couldn't get the words out fast enough.

"Leah, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, I swear! It was just a comeback to Paul, but that's no excuse. I didn't think you would mind! Please don't hate me. Oh, you hate me, don't you? I knew it. I'm an idiot! A total, complete id-."

"Nick," I whispered quietly, capturing his lips with mine.

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor."

He sighed in relief, looking into my eyes. "Anything you want."

I smiled against his lips. "Shut up." I kissed him again.

Maybe imprinting isn't so bad after all.

**A/N: Wow. I started this in August and it took me 'till January to actually finish. I blame school. **

**This is a oneshot for now, but who knows. I may do a sequel if I even get enough time. ;)**

**~Alex**


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